Resolution
by maxxysmommy
Summary: Just my idea of how the season 10 finale may go, spoilers for Shabbat Shalom and Shiva, please read and review xx
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys sorry I've been away for a while, had a bit of writer's block, and every fic I wrote seemed to be cancelled out by new episodes lol. So I figure if I take a pot shot at the season finale, I will get to finish it in time. Haven't seen Shabbat Shalom or Shiva but I think I've seen all the important bits and I just feel that Ilan is gonna be back for the season finale cliff-hanger, so this is how I think it may go down. Please review, tell me if you want me to continue, thanks in advance guys, much love xxx**

Tony had been woken in the middle of the night by his gut. He had a seriously bad feeling, being around Gibbs for so long had meant that he had developed an overly acute gut feeling of his own and it was telling him that something was already or was about to be very wrong. He had tried to get back to sleep, tossing and turning trying to get comfortable, shut off his brain but nothing worked, not even a classic movie marathon on cable.

He hoped that his gut feeling was nothing, just a phantom but he had an inkling that he would find out by the end of the day.

It was Friday, the case the team had been working on had been brought to a conclusion late the previous night so Tony knew that the day would be filled with the joys of form filling and paperwork, nothing about that should be hinky though.

By the time he reached the office he was on his fifth cup of coffee and should have been buzzing however he still found it impossible to stifle a yawn as he trudged into the bullpen, dropping his bag next to his desk and slouching heavily into his chair.

"Rough night Tony?" McGee asked as he entered the bullpen from the direction of Abby's lab, coffees in hand.

"Kind of McGee," Tony replied, dragging himself upright to study McGee more closely. "You're very chirpy this morning!"

"I finally beat my high score on…"

"Oh no, please don't tell me I'm tired enough already," Tony sighed, interrupting McGee mid flow, noticing as he rolled his eyes that the other two desks in the bullpen were empty. "Where are Gibbs and Ziva?"

"Gibbs is in MTAC," McGee replied, placing a coffee on Tony's desk, then returning to his own, "Vance called him in early, some kind of emergency conference."

"And Ziva?" Tony asked again, trying to wake himself up by merely inhaling the caffeine fumes.

"Dunno Tony, her bag's not here so I guess she hasn't come in yet?"

"Hmmm," Tony pondered, squinting at his watch, "that would mean she's late, and Ziva's never late."

"I'm sure she will have a good reason," McGee speculated, switching his monitor back on and getting out the various forms he needed to fill in.

"Hmmmm, maybe," Tony pondered again, "so do you know what's going on in MTAC?"

"Not a clue, just that Gibbs has been in there for hours with Vance, so I'm guessing nothing good."

"I guess we will find out soon," Tony spun round in his chair as he saw Gibbs exiting MTAC out of the corner of his eye.

"DiNozzo, McGee," Gibbs shouted as he made his way down the stairs, "either of you heard from Ziva today?"

"Oh no," Tony muttered as his gut feeling started to kick in again.

"No Boss not since last night," McGee answered first, the concern evident in his voice.

"What about you DiNozzo?" Tony felt Gibbs' piercing blue eyes on him.

"No, me either," Tony replied, "Why, what's wrong?"

"Ilan Bodnar is what's wrong," Gibbs shouted, taking his gun and his badge from his drawer.

Tony's heart sank as that name fell from Gibbs' lips, his gut feeling now explained, and his very being filled with dread. Gibbs' voice was now being drowned out by the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears; he picked up his phone and began rapidly dialling Ziva's number.

"Dammit," he cursed as it went straight to voicemail.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs snapped him back to reality, "there's no point it's switched off, we need to get to her apartment, now!"

"Yes Boss," Tony conceded, his five coffees suddenly all kicking in at once as he grabbed his gear and joined Gibbs and McGee in the elevator.

"Is Bodnar back in the US?" McGee asked as the elevator made its descent.

"It appears so," Gibbs seethed, "it also appears that he has brought a couple of ex-Mossad mercenaries with him and that Mossad knew all about it!"

"What the hell!?" Tony spluttered, "How could they think that we wouldn't need to know an important bit of information like that!"

"It seems they thought that they could handle it," Gibbs replied, as they exited the elevator and made their way towards a car, "they have operatives here too to try and stop him."

"Stop him from what?" McGee asked, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

"Killing Ziva," Gibbs replied, opening the driver's door and getting in, leaving McGee and Tony to just look at each other over the roof of the car.

"You two getting in or what," Gibbs shouted out of the window, bringing them both back to earth, making them both jump in the car and Gibbs screech out of the lot.

Gibbs explained on the drive to Ziva's apartment that Bodnar still held some kind of blood lust for Ziva, killing her father hadn't been enough in his eyes he wanted her dead too, finish off the David family line that he had seemingly fought so hard to be part of.

Tony sat in silence all the way, his mind filling with thousands of scenarios, none of them pleasant, half listening to Gibbs and McGee, half lost in his own mind. McGee was on his laptop trying everything he could to find out some useful information but having no luck whatsoever. Ziva's phone being switched off meant he couldn't locate her current location, only that she had been at home when it had last been used.

The last activity had been her message to Tony, late the previous night, telling him off for stealing the last piece of brownie that Abby had baked her, leaving the empty crumby box in the bottom of her bag for her to find when she got home.

He opened his phone and flicked through to her message, she had ended it by telling him that he was buying lunch the next day to make up for the theft, and a winking smiley face as she bade him good night. He thumbed the screen, hoping that it wasn't the last communication they would ever have.

As they pulled into Ziva's street they could see her car still parked up out front as Gibbs swung in behind it. Piling out of the car they made their way up to Ziva's apartment in silence, every sense heightened in case they were walking into a trap.

Listening at Ziva's door they couldn't hear any movement inside but Tony noticed a blood spatter at the bottom of the door.

"Boss," he whispered, indicating to the blood.

Gibbs took a deep breath as he tried the handle, finding it to be unlocked. He signalled a three countdown to his agents, and on one they burst into the apartment guns drawn. Moving silently through they cleared each room and re-gathered in the living room.

All the rooms were relatively tidy except for the living room and kitchen where there were broken items and furniture knocked over, and several patches of blood.

"Looks like she put up a fight," McGee observed, noticing a hole in the wall that looked head shaped, but much taller than Ziva.

"Not enough of one," Gibbs glared, pointing to a neat pile on the island in the kitchen, it contained Ziva's badge and her gun, her ID, her phone, a lock of hair, and smeared across the surface was a streak of blood.

Tony went over to pick the things up but Gibbs stopped him in his tracks, "crime scene DiNozzo, we gotta process those see if we can get any prints off."

"Sorry Boss," Tony apologised, "will grab our gear."

Gibbs patted him on the shoulder, "We'll find her Tony, I promise."

"Hope so Boss," Tony replied, walking towards the door, "before it's too late."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all the reviews and follows guys, wasn't expecting that! So I like to hand write my stories before committing them to computer memory, and I have finished this one, it will be four chapters long, so all I gotta do is type it up and post, so updates will follow quickly, hope you stay with me, I promise I wont string it out too much. Thanks again, much love xx**

After every little bit of potential evidence had been collected at Ziva's apartment, the trio had made their way back to the Navy yard, none of them really saying much, all wrapped up in their own thoughts. McGee had taken all the bags down to Abby, Gibbs had asked him to stay there and help her process them all, two pairs of hands being better than one he had concluded.

Vance had used whatever favours he had left with anyone at Mossad to get any the information they had on Bodnar and his mercenaries sent over for Tony to analyse, Gibbs was in MTAC again trying to persuade the acting director of Mossad to share more information regarding their operatives whereabouts.

As the hours passed the bullpen felt very lonely to Tony, looking over his monitor to see his partner's desk empty was not something he wanted to have to do for very much longer. He tried to focus on the job at hand; Bodnar and his men were very good and were not leaving much of a trail to follow, unless Mossad were just feeding them the bare minimum to keep them quiet.

He liked to think that Ziva's life would mean more to them than that but following the actions of her own father he couldn't expect anyone else to care any less if Eli himself hadn't kept her safe from harm.

The two mercenaries Aaron Ophir and Meir Halevi seemed to have very few connections to anyone since being kicked out of Mossad, any family either of them had had broken ties years ago and there was only sketchy intel of some kidnap gone wrong in Syria three years prior. Neither of their old Mossad files held any clues either. He had run down their known aliases as well but it was like they didn't exist, no land or property, no travelling, nothing, not even a pet dog.

He was just about to start on Bodnar's background when McGee returned from Abby's lab with an unreadable look on his face.

"What's the verdict then McGee?" Tony asked as McGee sighed deeply, sitting back in his chair looking pensive.

"Well the blood and hair in the kitchen is Ziva's," he started, making Tony's heart drop into his stomach, "and so is the blood on the hallway wall and door jam, but the rest of the blood is not, it belongs to two other people."

"Well that's good then at least she got a couple of blows in," Tony smiled, "three against one, that's my ninja." As much as he hated the thought of Ziva having to go up against three armed assailants on her own, he was proud that she had obviously injured two of them; her time in America hadn't dulled her ninja survival skills.

"That's not the only bit of news," McGee continued, interrupting Tony's thought, "we got a match from one of the blood samples and the hair that we took out of that hole in the wall."

"And who does it belong to?" Tony asked eagerly, not entirely sure why McGee was stringing it out.

"His name is Dekel Ben Haim," McGee replied, bringing his dossier up on the big screen.

"I don't recognise him from the list of aliases," Tony stood to look at Dekel's mug shot, a puzzled look on his face.

"That's because he's not one of the mercenaries," Gibbs interjected as he came thundering down the stairs, "he's one of the Mossad operatives supposedly sent here to find Bodnar."

"What?" Tony spat, "you mean Mossad have been lying to us all along trying to throw us off?"

"Surprisingly no," Gibbs replied, standing in front of McGee's desk, "they had no idea until Abby and McGee got a match on the DNA and their search pinged Mossad security protocols."

"So who the hell is this guy?" Tony asked angrily.

"It seems that Dekel and his partner Beram Atar stayed loyal to Bodnar after he had Eli killed and have been working as double agents ever since, Mossad never suspected a thing," Gibbs explained.

"So what about the mercenaries," Tony asked, "where do they fit into this?"

"Mossad suspect that Dekel and Beram killed them a while ago and used their identities to throw us off," McGee elaborated, "knowing that they were Mossad defectors the acting Director didn't question it when Dekel told them that's who Ilan had recruited."

"So that makes it worse for Ziva then," Tony contemplated, "she most probably knows these guys too and if they've got it in for her as well…"

"As far as we know Ilan is the only one with the score to settle," Gibbs replied, "and we now have a phone number to trace."

"Boss?" Tony questioned.

"The phone that Dekel has been using to check in with Mossad is his own personal phone not a burn phone," Gibbs told him, "it's switched off at the moment but as soon as it's switched on again McGee can run a trace and find it."

"So we have just gotta sit here in the hope that grade A dou…." Tony said indignantly.

"He is scheduled to check in with Mossad again in 90 minutes," McGee interrupted, "all I need him to do is turn the phone on, we will get him Tony."

"I don't like it, they could kill her in 90 minutes," Tony paced in front of his desk, "is there nothing else we can do?"

"I am running all of his incoming and outgoing calls," McGee declared, eyes glued to his computer screen, "see if any of his previous locations give us a clue to anything."

Tony sighed and ran his hands through his hair, he felt so utterly helpless. Ziva had been through more in her thirty short years than most people go through in a lifetime, and now someone who she once considered a brother was doing this to her, he was so worried that this would send her scurrying back into her shell of isolation and distrust, if they even managed to find her alive.

"There are only three numbers he has called or received in the last week," McGee found, cross referencing all the data, "one is his handler in Mossad and the other two are numbers that he is frequently in the same vicinity as."

"Where is that vicinity McGee?" Gibbs urged impatiently.

"Ziva's apartment building, a restaurant downtown, a motel near the airport, and the docks Boss," McGee reeled off all the locations.

"The docks would be a good place to keep someone out of the way," Tony thought out loud, looking at the map as McGee brought it up on the screen for them to see.

"Can you be more specific McGee?" Gibbs asked, walking round behind him.

"South side Boss," McGee confirmed, zooming in on the map, "that's as specific as I can be without the phone being on."

"Get that info down to Abby," Gibbs instructed, "then meet us at the car, DiNozzo, with me."

"Yes Boss," Tony and McGee replied in unison, Tony following Gibbs towards the elevator and McGee hurrying off in the direction of Abby's lab.

The elevator seemed to take forever on its descent, not helped by the fact that Gibbs' pacing was making Tony more nervous than he already was, his palms clammy and his throat dry, he hoped beyond all hope that the traffic was light and they could reach her quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok guys I'm typing as fast as I can, hope you stay with me and are liking thus far, thanks for reading on, much love xx**

Tony had never witnessed so many traffic violations committed in one day as by Gibbs in the twenty five minutes it took him to drive from the Navy yard to the docks. He was driving like a man possessed, sharing the same sense of urgency as himself and McGee, the tension in the car was palpable.

A quick phone call from Vance had just informed them that another team of agents had been dispatched to back them up and local law enforcement were also on standby if needs be.

Tony's brain was working overtime imagining what Ziva had been subjected to since he had seen her last night, and the possible states he might find her in that warehouse, he knew she was bleeding but he dread to think what else they had done to her. Finding her so emaciated and withdrawn in Somalia had been bad enough even though he had already come to terms with the fact that she was dead back then. Finding her alive had been an amazing bonus.

But they were so much closer now, Somalia had bound them all together as a team but the bombing at the Navy yard had brought the two of them closer together than they had ever been. Something had passed between them in that elevator, they both knew it. He was pretty sure that they both realised that the dynamics between them were changing, he had left that elevator with a definite sense of clarity about the direction he wanted their relationship to go, and now he was kicking himself for not having the courage to do something about it.

He was snapped out of his headspace by the shrill ringing of Gibbs' phone. Looking at the caller ID Gibbs saw it was Abby and handed it to McGee, "its Abby put her on loudspeaker."

"Hey Abby," McGee answered, "What have you got?"

"Are you at the docks yet?" she asked urgently, Tony could her imagine her hopping from foot to foot like she did when she had found something important.

"Just at the main gate Abs," Gibbs answered impatiently, "why, have you found out where the warehouse is yet?"

"I don't need to wait for Dekel to turn his phone back on," she replied, "I know where the warehouse is."

Gibbs slammed the brakes on and the car slid to a stop as he took the phone back off McGee.

"C'mon Abs spit it out," he pleaded with her as McGee and Tony sat on the edge of their seats.

"Well while you guys were racing over there I decided to see if I could find any clues in the registered owners of all of the warehouses on the south side," she explained, "just on the off chance that there might be some Israeli connection."

"And…" Gibbs pushed.

"Well you're not gonna believe it Gibbs but I found one, one that I should have maybe thought about before," Abby continued before pausing for breath, "there is a warehouse on the very last pier where the registered owner is none other than Eli David, that's gotta be where she is."

"Good job Abs," Gibbs smiled, handing the phone back to McGee and putting the car back in drive, slamming his foot on the accelerator.

"Which direction Abby?" Tony anxiously shouted over McGee's shoulder.

"I've got your phone signal," she informed them as Gibbs sped off down the dockside, adjacent to the water, "keep driving south for about eight hundred metres, it's the last pier on your left, you can't miss it."

"I owe you a gallon of Caf-pow Abby," Gibbs shouted gratefully as they neared the pier.

"Please bring her back ok Gibbs," Abby pleaded, they all knew she was very close to tears.

"I will try," Gibbs reassured her as they screeched to a halt inches from the chain link guarding the entrance to the pier.

McGee handed Gibbs his phone back then as all three agents piled out of the car, they were met with the sound of gunshots ringing out from the direction of the warehouse.

"Ziva is our priority," Gibbs stated as he shot the padlock off the gate, "if that bastard has to die in the crossfire then so be it."

Tony and McGee nodded in understanding as they set off at a run down the pier guns drawn, a pier that seemed to Tony to get longer the further they got down it. As they reached halfway the gunfire stopped, Gibbs signalled for them to stop also as they crouched in anticipation, guns trained at the building.

"You two take the front," Gibbs whispered, "I'll go round the back."

They fanned out as they started to stalk down the pier, hyper alert and heartbeats all thumping in their chests, dreading what they might find.

As they neared the warehouse the door opened and Ziva staggered out, looking bedraggled and bloody, gun dangling from her hand, magazine empty. She was dressed only in a thin black sweater and black sweatpants, barefooted and hair all ruffled and wild, yet Tony had never seen such a beautiful sight.

"Ziva!" Gibbs exclaimed, running over to her, "Are you ok?"

It took all of Tony's willpower not to run over to her and envelope her in a bone crushing hug. He released the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding as he registered it was indeed Ziva stood before them, not a figment of his imagination.

"I am ok," she replied, wincing as Gibbs cradled her head to inspect the bleeding laceration on her temple, "Bodnar however is not."

"DiNozzo, stay with Ziva," Gibbs ordered, shrugging off his jacket and placing it round Ziva's shoulders then giving her hand a 'you have no idea how happy I am you're safe' squeeze, "McGee you're with me, we need to secure the building."

"I'm so glad you're ok," McGee smiled at Ziva before following Gibbs.

Tony turned to face Ziva, wanting to say so much but his mouth willing to say so little. As she offered him a weak smile, he noticed she had started to sway.

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked, his concern piqued as the colour visibly drained from her face right in front of his eyes.

"Tony I do not feel so….."

With that Ziva started to crumple before him, he took a step forward to catch her as she just wilted into his arms.

"Boss!" Tony shouted as he lowered Ziva gently to the ground, sinking down with her. He suddenly noticed that his previously white shirt now had a bright red stain running down it where Ziva had collapsed against his chest; her black sweater was obviously concealing a more serious injury.

"Please don't break my fingers for this," he whispered as he lifted the hem of her sweater just enough to reveal a gunshot wound on the left side of her abdomen.

"Oh crap Ziva," he gasped as he immediately applied pressure to her wound, trying to stem the bleeding.

"Boss!" he shouted again, this time Gibbs heard and spun round, spotting Ziva laying on the ground he started to run back up the pier.

"Ziva's hurt bad," Tony shouted, the panic evident in his voice, "We need medics down here!"

Gibbs took out his phone and called for an ambulance, instructing McGee to chase up their backup agents as he did so.

"Stay with me Ziva," Tony whispered, trying to shrug his jacket off, "please stay with me, you can't leave me like this!" He managed to remove his jacket and place it over her to keep her warm, trying to keep the pressure on her wound but he could feel her warm blood seeping through his fingers as he heard Gibbs ask McGee to move their car so the ambulance could get down the narrow pier.

"Keep the pressure on Tony," Gibbs put a steadying hand on his shoulder, "keep talking to her," he suggested as he laid McGee's jacket over her bare feet before going to update the newly arriving agents.

"C'mon Ziva, open your eyes," he pleaded, "You need to tell me off for having my hands up your sweater!" he hoped that an attempt at humour might stir her but it didn't, she still looked pale and lifeless.

He turned his eyes skyward. "Seriously, you made me watch one partner die was that not enough for you?" he questioned whichever deity was listening, "I can't lose her!"

"Ziva you can't die," he continued, turning his focus back to her, "you've survived so much, you're like the Highlander Connor MacLeod, now that's a good movie, Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, I've always thought you must be an immortal, you cant let one little bullet stop you!" He kept babbling on, willing her to tell him to shut up with his movie references.

"I promise if you open your eyes we will watch Highlander so you can see what I'm talking about," he begged her, "I will even treat you to your favourite takeout!"

After what Tony was sure was an eternity the medics arrived and crowded round Ziva, pushing him out of the way, leaving him sat on the pier in shock as they worked on her. He suddenly noticed just how much of Ziva's blood was dripping off his hands, starting to turn sticky between his fingers, and the pool that had formed under her, mixing with the puddles on the pier.

He watched as they put drips in her arms then loaded her onto a stretcher, the gauze over her wound turning red almost immediately. As they started to wheel her away he became aware that someone was calling his name in the distance, looking up he found Gibbs signalling to him.

"Go with her in the ambulance," Gibbs urged him; "McGee and I will follow you when we've finished up here."

"You sure boss?" Tony asked as Gibbs helped him up from where he was sat.

"Go Tony," Gibbs almost pushed him in the direction of the ambulance; "she will know you're with her, and I don't want her being left on her own."

"Okay," Tony agreed, clambering into the back of the ambulance, holding Ziva's hand as they set off for the hospital, the medic still working around him.


	4. Chapter 4

Ziva was uncomfortably brought back to consciousness by the sharp stabbing in her side and dull throbbing in her head. Wracking her brain trying to remember what happened she squinted her eyes open slowly to assess her surroundings. The room had the clinical smell of hospital and squinting her eyes just enough to see that she was indeed in a dimly lit hospital room and that it was dark outside, she promptly closed them again, the consistent high pitched beeping of a heart monitor like a needle in her brain.

She tried to take a deep breath in an attempt to control the pain but only succeeded in making her side hurt all the more. Then she remembered the warehouse, a fight, Bodnar, gunshots, 'damn' she thought as she frowned, had she been shot?

As in involuntary shiver coursed through her body causing goose bumps to form over every inch of exposed and bruised skin, she suddenly became aware that someone had a tight grip on her right hand and their warm breath was fanning across her wrist.

Nervous about whom it could possibly be she prised her eyes open to find that Tony was asleep in the chair next to her bed, his head resting on his crossed arms on the edge of her bed, his right hand grasping hers. A small smile found its way to her lips, she almost instinctively knew it would be him, even though it looked like he would be very uncomfortable when he woke up he hadn't relinquished his grip on her hand.

Ziva felt instantly guilty when she saw how pensive he looked in his sleep, he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and his slumber was not that of a contented man, the worry lines etched onto his face.

She debated with herself about whether to wake him or not, she did not want to break the comforting warm contact between his hand and hers, knowing that as soon as he woke up he would probably remove his hand from hers. She was desperately thirsty however and the jug of water was across the room, well out of her grasp.

"Tony," she whispered, trying gently to pull her hand from underneath his as not to startle him, but he did not stir.

"Tony," she whispered again a little louder, moving her hand a little more forcefully. It had the desired effect as Tony sat bolt upright.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," he slurred, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands then running his fingers through his messy hair. He then noticed that Ziva was also awake and smiling at his confusion.

"Well hey there sleeping beauty," he greeted her, his smile releasing the burden of worry that he had possessed for the last ten hours, not knowing if she would be ok. "How are you feeling?" he asked, stretching his aching back muscles.

"Sore," Ziva admitted, a gentle hand covering her wound, "cold, and a little thirsty."

"Where are my manners?" Tony exclaimed, practically jumping out of his chair and crossing the room to where the water jug was on the sideboard. "A gentleman should always get the lady a drink," he continued, pouring Ziva a glass and walking back over to the bed, placing it carefully in her hand.

"Thank you Tony," she replied as his fingers brushed past hers. As she moved slightly to take a sip another jolt of pain shot its way up her side, her face creasing in pain.

"Do you want me to get a nurse?" Tony asked, seeing the pained look flash across Ziva's face, wishing he could take it all away.

"No I am ok thank you," she replied, managing to take a long sip of the water, relishing the feeling of the moisture coating her dry mouth and throat, "I will manage."

"Are you sure," Tony reiterated, not convinced by Ziva's answer, "because they could probably give you some meds or something for the pain."

"Honestly Tony, it is ok," she tried to reassure him, taking another sip of water then placing it on the table next to her, "I would rather feel the pain, at least then I know I am alive."

Tony grimaced at Ziva's admission, understanding her reasoning but wishing she didn't have to be in so much pain.

"I'm so sorry Ziva," Tony felt like he should apologise, taking his seat once again next to her.

"For what?" she questioned, a look of confusion replacing the look of pain across her features.

"For letting Bodnar get to you," Tony explained, playing with the edge of Ziva's covers nervously.

"You could not have foreseen this Tony," Ziva replied soothingly, half of her wanting to Gibbs slap him for being so silly and the other half wanting nothing more than to fling her arms around him, "there was nothing you could have done!"

"Could have caught him the first time," Tony insisted, averting his eyes from hers, suddenly feeling very unsure of himself.

"Please do not do this to yourself," she urged him, "Bodnar is dead and I am alive, that is all you should focus on!"

"But I should have been there to protect you," Tony argued, his gaze again meeting Ziva's, "it's my job to look out for you." He looked down at his hands, realising they were tying frustrated knots in Ziva's sheets.

"Tony," Ziva started but was suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion, a huge yawn escaping her lips.

"Do you want me to leave you to get some rest?" Tony asked, getting up and making a move to get his coat.

"What time is it?" Ziva asked as her heart sank, she didn't want him to leave like this, and no matter how tired she was they still needed to talk things out.

"A little after three," Tony replied after peering in the darkness at his watch.

"Why did you stay so late?" Ziva asked out of the blue, making Tony stop in his tracks, his arm only midway down his coat sleeve.

He turned to look at her, "I couldn't leave without knowing whether you were going to be ok," he said quietly, pushing his arm fully down the sleeve and starting to put the other arm through the other side.

"You do not have to leave now Tony," she assured him as he zipped up his coat and looked around the room for where he had put his phone.

"We should both probably try and get some sleep," he recommended, spotting his phone on the window sill, "I gotta be at work in a few hours and that chair isn't exactly comfortable."

"You could sleep here," Ziva suggested, shuffling over in the bed to make enough room for Tony to lay down next her, causing another jolt of pain to shoot up her side.

"I don't know Ziva," Tony replied unconvinced, shoving his phone in his pocket, "that doesn't really leave much room for you."

"Please Tony," she practically begged him, "you would be doing me a favour, I am cold and you are warm, and I would worry about you driving home when you are so tired."

Tony stopped to consider Ziva's suggestion, in his heart he didn't really want to leave her, he was only going to go because he didn't want to wear her out, and he didn't want her to think he was being selfish in his need to be near her.

"Are you sure you don't just want another blanket," he asked, not wanting any movement he might unconsciously make to cause Ziva any further pain.

The look in Ziva's eyes made his heart melt and he knew that he couldn't leave her now. He wouldn't have got any sleep at home and he knew it, he would only have been thinking of her anyway, and he didn't care how uncomfortable he may be if it made her feel better.

"Ok then," he acquiesced, starting to remove his coat again, "but if the nurse catches me you can explain to her cause I'm already in trouble for demanding to stay in the first place."

"You demanded?" Ziva repeated eyes wide in shock.

"Yeah kinda," Tony smiled, kicking his shoes off and removing his belt, not wanting the buckle to catch Ziva as they slept. "I also kinda demanded that they put you in scrubs and not one of those open backed gowns, I know how modest you are."

Ziva smiled as he carefully eased himself onto the bed, stretching himself out in the gap she had left him, holding his breath as she laid back down next to him, moulding herself against his side. As she nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck he brought his arm down to rest across her shoulder, breathing out finally as they descended into a comfortable silence.

He could feel skin of her forehead against his chin was cool to the touch, as was her arm laid across his chest, he was contemplating what the smell of her hair reminded him of as she let out a contented little sigh.

"You good?" he asked, trying to see the expression on her face but failing.

"Yes thank you Tony," she replied, adjusting her position slightly so her whole body length was pressed against his.

With the hand that was draped across Ziva's shoulder, Tony began drawing lazy patterns on the top of her arm when it dawned on him just how lucky he was to be in this position with her now, thing could have ended so badly for her.

"Ziva, I…" he started to say but lost courage mid sentence.

"What Tony?" she replied, leaving him time to finish his sentence.

"Please don't go getting yourself shot again," he finally continued, diverging from his original line of thought, "I'm getting old, I can't handle all this stress."

"I will try not to," Ziva offered, "but unfortunately it is one of the risks of our job, neither of us can make a guarantee like that."

"I know," Tony conceded, "but you have no idea how hard it was seeing you like that, I never want to see so much of your blood again, and such a pale look suits Abby, but definitely not you."

Ziva picked up a different tone in his voice, she knew he would have worried about her but there was something else underlying, it couldn't be fear, that was not an emotion that Tony would ever let show. She could hear his heart beat quickening in his chest and then his fingers stilled on her arm.

"I can't do this without you," he breathed, his voice almost at a whisper. Feeling Ziva tense momentarily in his arms Tony instantly regretted saying it, kicking himself for his bad timing as Ziva pushed herself off his chest to look at him.

Ignoring the pain in her side she studied his face, feeling so guilty that her situation was causing him pain too, the strength of which she could see bubbling away in the depths of his eyes. Imagining how she would feel if the roles were reversed, she knew that couldn't be without him either, in any context.

Ziva laid a hand on Tony's chest, feeling his heartbeat still pounding under it as he moved his hand up to brush her hair out of her face. She knew her heart was racing, they could both hear it beeping on the monitor away in the distance.

As he brought his hand back down to rest on her arm, Ziva began to close the distance between them, her eyes never leaving his until their faces were mere millimetres apart, she closed her eyes, pressing her lips gently to his.

Tony soon got over the initial shock of Ziva's lips on his, placing his left hand gently on her waist whilst bringing his right hand up to cup her face, lacing her hair through his fingers. Lost in the feeling of each other's lips on their own, they could have stayed like that all night, just savouring each other; however Tony was acutely aware of the fact that Ziva had just been shot and broke the kiss.

Resting her forehead on his, Ziva had no desire to move, even though her side was throbbing painfully, she was enjoying the feeling of Tony's breath fanning across her face, eyes still closed.

Tony watched her, trying to gauge her thoughts from her expression, until she finally opened her eyes to look at him, wearing a smile that reached both her lips and her soul.

"What was that for?" Tony grinned, his fingers still intertwined in her hair.

"Because you do not get rid of me that easily Tony," she whispered, planting one more butterfly kiss on his lips before moving to lay back down next to him, nuzzling into him as he placed his arm back around her shoulder.

"Oh God I hope not," he grinned, bringing his other hand to rest on top of hers where it lay on his chest. He kissed the top of her head as he felt her breathing start to slow, indicating she was drifting back off to sleep. He shuffled them both gently down the bed a little as he pulled the covers around them both then closed his eyes too, content that his sleeping ninja was going to be ok.

**So I was originally gonna end here but I dunno now, maybe it needs another chapter? Let me know what you think guys, much love as always xx **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, thank you for all the reviews and the follows, so so many follows! So this will defo be the last chapter now, sorry its taken a while, had to put my thinking cap on as this wasn't in the original plan, hope you guys think it does the story justice! Much love to all xx**

Following the events of the previous day, Gibbs had gotten very little sleep by the time he had eventually returned home. He had left Tony with strict instructions to call him if anything happened with Ziva, good or bad, but he hadn't heard a peep. No amount of wood working had managed to distract him, and when the first rays of dawn had started peeping their way through his blinds he decided that visiting hours be damned, he was going to the hospital to see how she was.

Vance had given them all the day off, 'paperwork could wait until Monday', he had told Gibbs as they'd left the office the night before, knowing full well that none of them would really be in the frame of mind for work the next day, being as how one of their family was laid up in a hospital bed, minus a substantial amount of her blood.

Gibbs was just grateful he was on his way to the hospital though, things could have ended up so much worse for Ziva, not that being kidnapped and getting shot wasn't bad, but in the grand scale of things that Ziva had been through in her life, he was sure she had been subjected to worse.

There had been little clue in the warehouse as to Bodnar's motives or what had happened for Ziva to get the upper hand, but the investigator in him was overpowered by the surrogate father today, as all he was concerned about was her welfare, he just wanted to see her.

As he pulled into the parking lot at the hospital he noticed that Tony's car was still there, in the exact same spot McGee had left it when he had dropped it off the day before, and as he had done the day before he pulled in next to it. He tried ringing Tony just on the off chance he may be awake but it went straight to voicemail.

As he made his way through the hospital Gibbs stopped to grab himself a coffee, and one for Tony, who he was sure would not be too far from Ziva's room and would probably be in need of a pick me up. As he turned onto Ziva's floor, he nodded in acknowledgement at the couple of nurses he remembered from the day before, and even though it wasn't yet visiting hours, neither tried to turn him away.

"Morning ladies," he smiled, as he walked up to the nurses' station, "how is Miss David doing?"

One of the nurses, a bubbly woman in her forties with curly red hair, with 'Brenda' on her name tag, shuffled through the stack of charts on her desk to find Ziva's, and after flicking through it quickly she turned back to Gibbs.

"She's had a good night Agent Gibbs," she informed him, "the bleeding is under control and she's been resting peacefully."

"That's good," Gibbs smiled, feeling slightly better, "is she still in room 436?"

"She sure is," Brenda replied, "you go right along now," she smiled as she ushered him down the corridor in the direction of Ziva's room.

Gibbs thought he would quickly check in on Ziva before going to find Tony, who he was sure would probably be in the family room, uncomfortably sleeping in one of the chairs. Little could have prepared him for the sight that was about to greet him on the other side of Ziva's door.

He almost dropped his coffee as he opened the door to find Tony asleep on Ziva's bed, with her curled into his side, snoring gently as her arm flopped lazily across his torso. He heard Fornell's words echoing in his head from when they had found McGee and Diane curled up on the sofa together the year before.

"It seems a shame to wake em don't it," a voice broke his thoughts. He turned to see a petite blond nurse standing beside him, the same nurse he had had to make Tony walk away from the night before after she had tried to make him leave Ziva's room. Her name was Maggie, he had remembered because she looked so similar to Maddie Tyler, Kelly's childhood friend, even their names were similar.

"I can almost forgive him for yellin' at me yesterday," Maggie continued, smiling up at Gibbs, "especially as he looks so cute when he's asleep and they look so peaceful don't they."

Gibbs couldn't help but smile, she was right they did look peaceful, and given the previous days events he couldn't be annoyed if they had managed to find comfort in each other, God knows they deserved to get a decent nights sleep.

"I gotta wake her up though, I need to change her dressing and check her wound," Maggie informed him, leafing through Ziva's chart, "I already left em longer than I should really."

"I don't want to get you in trouble Maggie, but is there any way you could leave them a little bit longer," Gibbs asked, knowing that sleep was probably better than any medicine for healing wounds, both physical and mental.

"Hmmmm," Maggie mused, giving Gibbs the eye, "seein' as you asked so nicely I'm tempted to let em have another half hours sleep, but it'll cost ya."

"How much?" Gibbs grinned, knowing probably where her request would be heading.

"Well I'm goin' on my break now," she hinted, flipping Ziva's chart closed and tucking it under her arm, "It'd be a crying shame if you didn't join me for a coffee in the canteen!"

"Well that's a price I'm willing to pay," Gibbs replied, giving his sleeping agents one last look, before pulling the door closed behind him and following Maggie off down the corridor.

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As Tony drifted slowly back to consciousness he found himself in unfamiliar surroundings, it took him a second to remember what had happened the night before as to where he was now. Then it registered as he felt the warm body pressed up against him and the pleasant weight of a sleeping Ziva on his chest just where he was.

It hadn't been a dream, Ziva had actually kissed him and asked him to sleep with her in the same bed, he closed his eyes again as he remembered the feel of her lips on his. It was a feeling he could definitely get used to but he was scared that as soon as she woke up and the medication wore off she would see clearly and regret the whole thing.

He suddenly felt very nervous about being there in the bed with her; he didn't want her to think that he had taken advantage of her in the vulnerable state she was in. _But she kissed you _the little voice inside his head reasoned with him, and although he hadn't initiated the contact, he certainly hadn't stopped it either.

Noticing it was now light outside he tried to look at his watch without disturbing Ziva, but when he saw it was 07:10 he nearly jumped out of the bed, Gibbs was going to be mad if he was late for work. As content as he was to stay in the bed with Ziva curled up against him forever he knew that he had to wake her, she must have read his mind however, as she started to stir.

Tony was unsure of what to say if anything, the last time he and Ziva had woken up together had been far less awkward. He opted to wait until Ziva had acclimatised to her surroundings a little before startling her.

As she stretched the full length of her body against Tony's she was instantly shocked fully awake by the sharp pain in her side, at that moment it came flooding back what had occurred in the warehouse, that she had been shot, and was in hospital.

She remembered as she felt Tony's heart beating under her ear that she had asked him to stay, and he had, squeezed into the tiny hospital bed, holding her as she slept. She had never felt safer than with his arm wrapped around her.

"Good morning Tony," Ziva smiled, nuzzling back into his chest.

"Morning sleepy head," Tony replied, all his nerves gone as Ziva clearly didn't have any misgivings about the night before, "and how are you feeling today?"

"I am sore," she replied closing her eyes, enjoying listening to the rhythm of Tony's heartbeat, "but I am alive."

"You sure are," Tony grinned, pulling her closer to him, covering her hand with his. He opened his mouth to say something but the door to Ziva's room opened and in walked a nurse, Maggie, the same nurse, Tony realised, that he had seriously yelled at the evening before.

"Don't look so worried Agent DiNozzo," Maggie smiled, walking round the bed to check Ziva's drip and monitors, "all is forgiven, last night is forgotten."

Tony hadn't even realised he was pulling any kind of face but he had been worried as he saw it was Maggie walking in, he hadn't meant to get annoyed but where Ziva was concerned, logical thinking sometimes tended to get left by the wayside.

"Now, how did ya both sleep?" Maggie asked as Ziva pushed herself off Tony's chest so she was sitting, "ya both looked so peaceful there."

"Surprisingly well actually," Ziva replied, reaching for her water as Maggie jotted down the various readings.

"Yeah for a hospital bed, I found it to be quite comfy," Tony added, smiling at Ziva as he eased himself off the bed stretching his back, "not even a niggle!"

"And how is the pain Miss David?" Maggie asked, noting that Ziva hadn't actually used her pain relief button.

"It is manageable," she replied, running a hand through he tangled hair.

"Well I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave us for a lil bit Agent DiNozzo," Maggie informed him, "I gotta check Miss David's wounds and I'm sure she would like to freshen up too."

"Sure thing," Tony replied, "I could do with a coffee and a leg stretch."

"And I would love a shower," Ziva added, very much wanting to rid herself fully of the remnants of the warehouse and any association therewith.

"That's fine, we can stretch to a shower," Maggie replied, snapping shut Ziva's chart, "I will go fix ya up a towel or two and some waterproof dressings."

"You want me to swing by yours and pick you up a few things when I've finished work?" Tony asked as he put his coat on and buckled up his belt.

"That would be lovely Tony, thank you," Ziva smiled, reaching for Tony's hand and squeezing it gently.

"No problems sweetcheeks," Tony grinned, kissing the top of Ziva's head as he returned the squeeze of her hand, not really wanting to leave her without properly talking.

"Oh Agent DiNozzo," Maggie interrupted, suddenly remembering, " your lovely boss was here earlier and he asked me to tell you not to bother with work today, whatever you had to do could wait til Monday."

"You mean Gibbs?" Tony clarified, both his and Ziva's faces falling at the thought of Gibbs seeing them curled up together.

"Yeah Jethro was here bout an hour ago, wanted to see how ya were but when he saw ya both were asleep he treated me to a coffee instead," Maggie chuckled, seeing the shock building in Tony and Ziva's faces, "he said he'd come back later to see ya Miss David."

Tony and Ziva just looked at each other as Maggie left the room to find Ziva some towels.

"Well that is not a conversation I look forward to having," Ziva frowned, adjusting herself so she was fully sat up.

"Hey it can't be as bad as that time Gibbs and Fornell walked in on McGee spooned up with Diane on his sofa," Tony giggled, trying to make Ziva feel better.

"I hope not," Ziva smiled as she imagined the scenario, remembering the ribbing McGee had gotten for weeks afterwards.

"It won't," Tony reiterated, "now is there anything specific you need from yours?"

"I don't think so," Ziva replied after a brief pause, "just the essentials."

"Ok, I will be back as soon as I can then," he flashed her a goofy grin as he made his way out of the door, "enjoy your shower."

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Tony's brain was on overload as he made his way up to Ziva's apartment, the last few days were proving a lot to process. He kept tracing his lips, trying to remember the feel of Ziva's lips on his, smiling as relived their kiss, and the feel of her body against his as they woke up together.

As he approached her apartment door he could hear muffled voices from inside, unable to hear clearly enough to recognise them properly he swore under his breath, taking his gun from its holster. He turned the handle slowly as not to let the people inside know, flung the door open and pointed his gun, finding McGee and Abby down the sight.

"Tony," Abby shrieked, dropping the dustpan and brush she was holding, "it's only us!"

"Sorry Abs," Tony apologised, lowering his gun, putting it back in his holster, "what are you doing here?"

"When McGee told me what a state Ziva's apartment was in I wanted to come and clean it up for her," Abby explained, pointing around the room at the blood and glass and hole in the wall. "I didn't want her to come home to find other peoples blood everywhere and broken furniture."

"That's sweet of you," Tony replied, noting the fact that the broken furniture had been removed and McGee was wearing a pair of frilly rubber gloves, "they suit you McGee, you should wear them to crime scenes."

"Hmmmm," McGee pondered, "maybe not, they were the only pair I could find in Ziva's cupboard though."

"How is she?" Abby asked, moving a step closer to Tony.

"She's in a bit of pain, but she's being stubborn and wont take any meds," Tony supplied, "she slept well though, she was just going for a shower when I left."

"That's good," Abby smiled, the relief evident as her shoulders became less hunched, "we were going to go see her this morning but Gibbs said if might be better if we went to see her this afternoon."

"I'm sure she would love to see you," Tony agreed, "where is Gibbs anyway?"

"He just popped to the hardware store," McGee replied, "he's gone to get stuff to fill that hole in I think, should be back any minute."

"Ahhh, ok," Tony made a move towards Ziva's bedroom, "well I wont stay long, only came to get a few things for Ziva."

"Already done," Abby chirped, walking round Tony to pick up a bag next to the door, "everything she might need and a few things she won't but might like."

As Abby dropped the handle into Tony's hand, he noticed the mischievous twinkle in her eyes, "I'm sure I don't wanna know what you've put in there," he smiled, as she walked back to pick her dustpan up.

"No peeking Tony," Abby waggled a finger at him.

"I wont I promise," he grinned, secretly quite glad Abby had already packed a bag, he hadn't really wanted to be rooting through Ziva's underwear drawer. "You sure you don't want me to do anything while I'm here?"

"I think we'll manage DiNozzo," a gravelly voice came from behind him, making him jump.

"Oh hey Boss," Tony spluttered, suddenly very nervous, "was just grabbing a few things for Ziva."

"I can see that," Gibbs acknowledged the bag in Tony's hand, "how is she doing?"

"She's ok, bit of pain but she's manning it out, you know Ziva, stubborn as an Israeli mule." Tony knew he was rambling but the look in Gibbs' eye was making him feel like he was in front of the headmaster at school.

"She sleep ok?" Gibbs asked, keeping a straight face.

Tony knew Gibbs knew they had slept together, but did he know that Tony knew that he knew. "She got about four solid hours after the anaesthetic wore off," he replied, deciding to be quite vague.

"Good good," Gibbs smiled, nodding to Abby and McGee to give them a bit of privacy. As the two scurried off into the bedroom, Gibbs turned back to face Tony, Tony totally unable to read his poker face, but bracing himself for the mother of all head slaps.

"I'm not angry Tony," he finally said, after prolonging Tony's anxiety for what seemed like forever.

"Really Boss?" Tony was dumbstruck, and didn't really know what else to say.

"I was shocked to find you both like that this morning," Gibbs continued, "but I would be lying if I said I hadn't expected something to happen between you."

"Totally not prepared for that answer," Tony replied, his mouth open in shock.

"I'm not blind Tony, she needs you and you need her, and not just as partners."

"We haven't really talked about anything yet Boss," Tony replied, still really unable to comprehend the course the conversation was taking, "I didn't want her to feel like I'm taking advantage or anything."

"I don't think you need to worry bout that," Gibbs chuckled, putting Tony at ease a little, "you do need to talk though."

"I know," Tony admitted, "we will Boss, soon."

"Well for the time being, get back to the hospital and make sure she's got everything she needs," Gibbs ordered him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "we will be by to visit later."

"On it Boss," Tony smiled as he took the bag and walked out of the door.

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Tony was still reeling as he made it back to the hospital, Gibbs had just in not so many words given him and Ziva the go ahead to figure out the depths of their relationship. He was determined not to mess it up; there was so much at stake for both of them. He had not meant to admit quite as much as he had the night before, but Ziva hadn't pushed him away, he just didn't want to rush things now, after all it had taken them 8 years to get this far.

He felt nervous again as he walked through the hospital corridors back to Ziva's room, suddenly feeling like a fourteen year old boy on his first date, only Ziva could reduce him to a mushy mess.

As he reached her door he paused for a second with his hand on the handle, until he heard, "you can come in you know Tony" from the other side. He smiled to himself, Ziva's ninja skills had obviously returned with a vengeance.

As he opened the door he saw Ziva sat on the bed in a clean set of scrubs, damp curly hair framing her beautiful face, playing solitaire with a pack of cards

"Well you look refreshed," he observed, closing the door behind him and placing Abby's packed bag on the bed next to her.

"I feel much better thank you," she smiled, "and will feel better still when I am in my own clothes."

She fished through the bag to find some underwear, a pair of baggy sweats and from what Tony could see a large grey T-shirt, many sizes too big for her. "Will be back in a minute," she threw over her shoulder as she disappeared into the adjoining bathroom, leaving Tony alone in the room.

As the bathroom door closed, Tony brought over the trolley table to the bed and started getting out the contents of the other bag he had brought and managed to conceal from Ziva. He hurriedly arranged the items on the table, quickly stuffing paper back in the bag, just in time for Ziva to exit the bathroom and stop in shock as she saw what he had laid out.

"What is this?" she gasped, making Tony smile at the look of bewilderment dancing across her features and the OSU T-shirt that was currently drowning her slim frame, wracking his brain trying to remember when he must have misplaced one.

"Well it was my turn to treat you to lunch yesterday," he explained as Ziva made her way to the bed, noticing that he had brought her favourite sandwich from the deli round the corner from the Navy yard, and from the smell of it her favourite coffee too, "and seeing as you were otherwise engaged, I thought I would make up for it today."

As Ziva perched on the edge of the bed she noticed a bouquet of roses hiding behind the coffee cups, "and what are these?" she asked, picking them up and closing her eyes as she inhaled their fragrance.

"Well they're just because I wanted to bring you flowers," he replied, taking a seat opposite her on the bed, "and they reminded me of the colour of your cheeks when you blush."

"I do not blush," Ziva denied adamantly, then contradicting herself as her cheeks turned pink, even though Tony could see she was willing them not to.

"Ha ha ok then, whatever you say," Tony chuckled.

"Thank you for this Tony," Ziva smiled, laying the roses gently back on the table, "it is a lovely gesture, and very thoughtful."

"You're welcome, I know you hate hospitals, I just wanted to bring you a bit of normality until we can break you out of here."

"I hope that will be very soon," Ziva replied, "I wish to return to work as soon as possible."

"I know you do, but we just gotta take it a day at a time," Tony advised her gently, "you're pretty amazing but even you can't rush a gunshot healing."

"I know," Ziva sighed, "I just want to move on though, and put everything far behind me."

Tony didn't really want to spoil the moment and ask Ziva what had happened, so they just lapsed into silence as neither of them wanted to address the elephant in the room.

Ziva took a sip from her coffee, then deciding she at the very least owed Tony the truth, took a deep breath.

"I know that you suspected," she started, "that I had been tracking Bodnar for some time after my father died."

"I had kinda figured out you had been, I was hoping that you would let me in at some point," Tony replied, silently thanking her for opening up.

"I had planned to Tony, I promise," she assured him. "I had learned that he had planned an attack on Iran, which was to look like it was initiated by Israel, thus igniting a conflict between them, but before I could come to you he found out, and came to me."

"How did he find out?" Tony asked, bringing his hand to rest on Ziva's knee.

"I had been in contact with someone in Mossad I thought I could trust," Ziva explained, "Beram Atar, I had worked with him many times before I left, I never believed he would betray us to assist Bodnar."

"So what happened?" Tony asked, wondering if Ziva would ever be able to trust anyone again.

"Bodnar took me because he knew I would expose his plan," she told him matter-of-factly, her hand covering his on her knee, "he knew that like my father I wished for peace between Israel and Iran, he could not take the risk that his plan would fail and his need for conflict would be left unresolved."

"So why didn't he just kill you instead of kidnapping you?" Tony asked.

"He believed that if he kept me alive until after his planned attack, Mossad and NCIS would be more interested in finding me and less focused on any threat. I believe when the time came to kill me however, he would have lacked the guts to pull the trigger himself."

"I guess that's why he hired that Swedish guy to do the job last time," Tony mused, "didn't have the balls for it."

"He had never been one for direct interaction," Ziva agreed, "he much preferred to take the hands off approach."

"How did you manage to escape then?" Tony wondered out loud.

"I persuaded Beram to untie me to use the bathroom, I managed to acquire his knife to subdue him however our altercation alerted Dekel and Bodnar, who began shooting at me," she recollected, "I grabbed Beram's gun and took cover, I kept shooting until they were dead and the clip was empty."

"Did you not realise you had been hit?" Tony asked.

"Not until I was outside and you were there," she replied, "I guess the adrenaline was masking the pain."

"I guess so," Tony pondered, wheeling the table out of the way then moving closer to Ziva, wrapping his arms round her, tucking her head under his chin. He wished he had confronted her earlier about her secretive behaviour, and then he could have saved her from Bodnar, prevented the whole thing from happening.

"You could not have stopped this Tony," Ziva whispered, reading his mind, "You cannot be there to protect me all of the time."

"No but believe me, from now on I'm gonna try," he replied, determination strong in his voice, "I meant what I said last night; I can't do this without you."

Ziva pulled back to look at him, seeing the depth of his feelings in the warmth of his eyes and the look of complete devotion in his expression, she wished she had realised before, she knew he would never betray her, and would do anything he could to make her happy.

"I'm sorry Tony," she apologised.

"I don't want you to be sorry," he assured her, "for now, I want you to eat your lunch, drink your coffee and get well," he said, wheeling the table back so she could eat comfortably, "I'm not going anywhere, we will talk when you're out of here, there's no rush, I just want you to be good, and when you're good we will be good."

"Thank you Tony," she smiled, feeling the tears burning at the back of her eyes, "for so much."

He wove his hand through her curls and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, then one on her forehead, whispering "I would do anything for you" into her hair he then sat back down opposite her taking a huge bite out of his sandwich, making her giggle, and for the first time in a long time, feeling like she had something to look forward to.

**Ok guys that is it, please let me know if its ok, love you all xxx**


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